


Memory is the Key

by BlueTeamSucks



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Project Freelancer, RvB Ladies' Night, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 13:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2311469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueTeamSucks/pseuds/BlueTeamSucks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"</p>
<p>"Do you mean like does God exist and stuff or that fact that we're on a beach in the middle of nowhere with no weapons and only civilian clothes?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memory is the Key

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"Do you mean like does God exist and stuff or that fact that we're on a beach in the middle of nowhere with no weapons and only civilian clothes?"

Connie turned to the very wet and sandy South and gave her an exasperated glare. "The second one."

"Both of you, shut up," Carolina snapped. She dragged 479er out of the water and laid her on her back. She coughed a couple of times, then groaned.

"Where are we?" Niner sat up, blinking the salt water out of her eyes.

Connie stood up and squinted at the sky, taking in her surroundings. "We were hit while entering the atmosphere. Don't know by what, though. Based on our location as we coming in and because we're on a beach, I'd say somewhere in a Hawaii."

"Alright, we should try to find some locals. If there are any. From there we can figure out what hit us and find a way to contact the Mother." Carolina nodded and helped Niner up.

South whimpered and fell back into the sand. "I don't want to find some stupid fucking local or tourists. We could be miles away from civilization. We could die out here!"

Just as the words left her mouth, there was a surprised gasp from behind them. They all twisted around to find a girl staring at them. A grin covered her face and she waved happily. "Hey! How are you guys? Sorry if I scared you, I thought only me and my brother knew about this beach. You definitely scared me!"

The girl was still smiling at them cheerfully. She had brown skin and dark hair with light highlights. A tattoo sleeve covered her right arm, but none of the Freelancers could make out what it was of. She was wearing a yellow bikini that showed off her curves and a towel was thrown over her shoulder. A pair of sunglasses were pushed back into her hair, keeping it out of her face.

Carolina took a step forward, which didn't unsettle the girl at all, despite Carolina's intense stare. "We just... Shipwrecked here. Can you help us get our bearings?"

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my God. Are you fucking serious? That's so cool! Oh my God, oh my God, are you guys, like, pirates or some shit like that?"

South and Connie shared a look of disbelief. Carolina's shoulders sagged in disappointment. Niner shook her head and sighed.

"Kid, we're not pirates. We're space marines," Niner explained slowly, "and we need your help getting around here. Can you do that favor for us?"

She nodded. "Yeah! We're just outside Honolulu! I can take you back to my place and help you out!" She motioned behind her, from where she had come.

Carolina sighed in relief. "Thank God. How far away do you live?"

"About fifteen minutes. Not that long of a drive. I'm Kaikaina, by the way! Everyone just calls me Kai or Sister, though." She gave them a small wave and bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Carolina."

"Connie."

"South."

"479er. Just call me Niner."

Sister nodded at them all. "Wow! You guys have some cool names!"

"Yeah, we do. What way to your car?" Carolina tried to steer her back toward the topic of getting them off of this beach and helping them.

Sister pointed behind her. "Just right there. Come on!" She skipped away and the Freelancers followed her hesitantly. Not far from the beach, there was a small parking lot with only a Jeep in it. Sister unlocked it and jumped into the driver's seat.

Before they piled in as well, South leaned over to Connie and whispered, "Is it even safe for her to drive?"

Connie snorted, then shook her head uncertainly. "I'm slightly nervous for our well being. Even more so than when Niner drives."

That earned her a playful glare from 479er, who climbed into shotgun without calling dibs on it. None of them complained, though. Even if she wasn't driving, they all wanted Niner as close to the wheel as she could get. Just in case something went wrong.

Sister turned on her car and the engine roared to life. Loud, obnoxious pop music blared from the radio and Kai didn't bother to turn it down, even though it was hurting their ears. Instead, she turned it up even more and sang along as she started driving.

Connie leaned against South's shoulder and South slumped in her seat as they drove. Carolina put her head in her hands and was quiet the whole time. Niner tried to talk to Sister for a bit, then just listened to the music in resignation.

They pulled into the driveway of a small, garish yellow house. Sister parked and shut of the car. Everyone's ears rang once the music was gone. "Hey! This is my place, come on in!" Kai practically had to shout.

Sister leaped out of the car and led them to her brightly colored front door. She fumbled with her key ring for a moment, then unlocked it. A wave of cold air hit them and they all jumped inside to avoid the hot sun.

Kai disappeared for a moment after telling them to make themselves comfortable. The Freelancers looked around in curiosity. Carolina managed to find a laptop and started quickly typing on it. 479er started to dig through Sister's fridge and pulled out an apple. She chewed on it thoughtfully and watched over Carolina's shoulder as she typed. South groaned and collapsed on a kitchen chair. Sand fell from her body and showered the floor.

Connie slowly walked around, taking in the details of Kai's house. On a shelf there were pictures of Sister with an overweight guy who looked similar to Kai. She figured that he must be the brother she had mentioned.

South watched as Connie wandered over to a small closet at the end of the hall. From where she was sitting, she couldn't see the contents of the closet, but she could see Connie's shocked expression when she opened the door.

Before South could ask Connie what was wrong, Sister came bouncing down the stairs. "How're you guys doing?"

Carolina glanced up from her work. "I'm trying to find a way to get a message to our ship, The Mother of Invention. It might be tough considering they're in space, but they could have the information about what we should do from here and where our drop ship could be."

"It didn't come down with you guys?" Sister cocked her head to the side, obviously not understanding.

Niner answered for Carolina, which was good, because Lina had already stopped listening to Kai. "Nope, we had to jump off so we didn't die."

"Oh! Okay!"

Connie looked up from the closet, which she had been rummaging around in. "Hey, Sister? Were you... In the army?"

Kai looked over at Connie and grinned. "Yup! Blue team! In a place called Blood Gulch. But it wasn't as exciting as it sounds, all we did was sit around and complain and talk. Oh, and I banged a guy named Tucker. Although... I might've been on red team. I get confused 'cuz Grif was on red team too. I got bored and left after everyone was transferred, except for the Spanish robot and that grumpy old guy."

Niner looked up from staring at the laptop over Carolina's shoulder. "You... Got bored of the army and just _left_?"

South snickered. "What the fuck do you mean by 'Spanish robot?'"

"How do you forget what team you were on?" Connie gave Sister a look of exasperation.

Carolina didn't say anything, but she raised her eyebrows as she typed away.

Sister shrugged. "Yeah, it wasn't hard to leave. I just called a taxi. And the red team's sergeant made a Spanish speaking robot out of spare parts. And I'm colorblind."

"Holy fuck." Carolina leaned back in her seat, her eyes wide.

Everyone turned to her and Sister nodded quickly. "I know right? Being colorblind totally fucking sucks! One time I-"

"Shut up, Kaikaina," Carolina snapped. Kai didn't seem bothered, but she fell silent as Carolina took a deep breath. "I managed to get a message through to the Mother of Invention. They responded with what they think happened to us. The package that we were picking up had valuable equipment that got damaged from all of the banging around and it malfunctioned. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem, but we were picking up some upgraded versions of suit enhancements. Specifically, Wash's and Wyoming's."

South was the first one to figure out what was going on and she groaned loudly. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Connie gasped sharply. "The temporal distortion unit brought us back in time?"

Carolina rubbed at her eyes, slightly smudging her eyeliner. "Forward. There's no way to tell how far we've come. The Director says our best bet is to find future versions of Freelancers and have them help us."

"That's... Actually kind of cool." South shrugged at Connie. Connie rolled her eyes in response.

"Wait, Wash's enhancement is an EMP, right? That must be why I suddenly couldn't control the ship. It must've gone off when Wyoming's did." Niner frowned to herself, suddenly worried about her ship.

"Fuck, you're probably right." Carolina chewed on her bottom lip, then got distracted by something on Kai's laptop.

Sister looked utterly confused. "Wait, you guys are from the future? Hot!"

"Nah, we're from the past. Not as cool, but still badass." Niner winked at Sister with a grin.

Carolina cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention once again. "The Director says that they' ex managed to get two weak signals from future Freelancers. They're on a completely different planet, though. They'll need to transport us."

Connie frowned deeply and South put her head in her hands. Sister watched as Niner squared her shoulders stubbornly. "What's wrong with transports?"

"It hurts like fuck," South complained, rubbing absently at her left shoulder.

"You get all nauseous and dizzy," Connie shook her head, dreading being transported.

479er crossed her arms unhappily. "And with transporting from such a long distance, it won't be guaranteed that we go exactly where we want to go. We could end up at least three miles away from where we should be."

"Plus, it turns my armor all black." Carolina shut Sister's laptop. "We're all being transported in one minute, the Mother has located us."

Sister's eyes went wide. "Can I come?"

Carolina scoffed. "No way. For all we know, we could be going into an active war zone. It's already risky going without armor, weapons, or backup. There is no chance in hell that I'm about to bring a civilian with us. Sorry, kid."

Sister's excited expression changed to one of complete stubbornness. "Well, I'm not a civilian. I never, like, officially left the army, so I'm still on blue team. Or red team. So, fuck you"

"Freelancers outrank simulation soldiers. You're staying." Carolina glared at Kai, who somehow refused to back down.

Sister clenched her jaw and growled out, "Yeah, well, you can suck my-"

They all blinked and suddenly, they weren't in Sister's house anymore. Instead, they were in a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. An enormous ship looked over them, looking like it was about to crash down at any moment.

Sister grinned and threw her hands up in the air. "Woo!"

Carolina groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on. Honestly, she was surprised that she was just know forming one. "Alright, there's nothing we can do about it now. Just stick close to us and don't wander off. We're going to split into groups and search the place for someone we can talk to. South and Connie, you check the red base. Niner and Sister, you look in blue. I'll check out that ship."

With a nod, they all wandered off. Everyone scoured every inch they could of their assigned spots. All Connie and South found were dirty dishes and robot parts. Sister and Niner found a broken radio, which they couldn't get to work, no matter what they tried. They also found the dismantled carcass of a Mantis. It was pretty obvious that a huge fight had gone on in this canyon.

The four of them waited in the middle of the canyon, waiting for Carolina to get back from the crash site. While they impatiently waited, they gathered up things they thought could be useful. Their pile was made up mostly of guns and spare parts.

South was sprawled out of the grass, whining about one thing or another. Connie desperately tried to get all of the sand off of her clothes and hair. Niner fiddled with some of the parts they had found. Sister just happily watched the sun slowly move across the canyon. They were all still pretty tired from being transported to this planet.

The revving of an engine brought them all out of their head spaces. Carolina drove up to them in a Warthog, a rare grin on her face. "Look what I found."

In the back of her new car, there was supplies piled up. There was armor in all of their usual colors and styles, even a yellow suit for Kai. There were enough weapons for them to discard the few they had gathered and a few other pieces of tech.

South let out a low whistle. "I call dibs on any cool shit."

"I call dibs on the car." Niner countered.

Carolina jumped out and started to pull stuff out of the back. Connie, Niner, and South moved to help her load everything out. Sister watched happily as they worked, only touching the supplies when a piece of armor was set down. The others had to keep correcting her when she grabbed the wrong color by accident.

Once the Warthog was empty, they all got into their armor, then helped Sister get into hers. All of them were far more comfortable in the bulky suits.

"The future has some damn good supplies," South mused as she pulled her hair into a small ponytail and carefully put on her new, purple helmet.

They stared at the weapons that had been laid out. Connie quickly snatched up all the knives and South grabbed the biggest gun that she could. Carolina carefully chose out an alien-looking laser gun for herself, then handed both Sister and Niner a pistol.

"What are those?" Connie pointed at a small pile of cubes that was leftover.

Carolina shrugged. "I just brought whatever I could get my hands on. I honestly have no idea what they do."

"Let's find out!" Sister moved toward one of the cubes and picked it up before any of the Freelancers could protest. She pressed a button on the side and for the second time that day, they were transported away.

They stumbled forward and shied away from their new surroundings. Carolina whipped her new gun out and unsteadily pointed it at the figures in front of them. "Don't move."

Connie whimpered and leaned against the heaving South for support. Niner looked like she was giving all of her energy to standing. Sister just fell down and moaned as loud as she could.

"Whoa, Carolina! What are you doing?" A black guy with dreads was staring at Carolina nervously, back away from them.

"Tucker!" Sister somehow managed to find the strength to launch herself at the new guy and tackle him to the ground.

He fell to the ground with a loud thud. "Fuck! Kaikaina, is that you? Dude, we thought that you were dead! Lopez said that he killed you. Well, he more mimed it out."

Sister giggled happily at him. "Lopez? Nah, he just told me to leave while I had the chance to get out of the army. He seemed bitter."

Tucker struggled to his feet and helped Sister up with him. "Huh. What an asshole." He turned to the four dizzy Freelancers. "Lina, where'd you find Kai and these people? I didn't even know that you were gone, I thought that Grey was helping you with your leg while you went over plans with Kimball."

Carolina growled at him and took a threatening step forward. Or it would've been threatening if she hadn't been shaking like a leaf. "I'm not the Carolina you know. We're Freelancers from the past and I need to talk to myself."

Tucker raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You know how fucking crazy that sounds, right?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I know. Alright, here's what happened. We were picking up supplies and one of things we were getting was Wyoming's suit enhanc-"

"Oh, dude! Wyoming was such a dick, that must suck if he's still alive in the past. He had that fucking annoying time travel thing," Tucker scoffed.

They all stared at him, slack jawed. Connie tilted her head to the side. "Wyoming is dead in the future?"

Tucker's eyes widened when he realized his slip up. "Probably a bad time to mention that it was me who killed him, huh?"

South shrugged nonchalantly. "Nah, you're cool. He's a douchebag in our time too."

Carolina sighed loudly. "Anyways, the temporal distortion unit went off and sent us into the future. We also had an EMP on board, so that didn't help matters when that shut everything-"

"You mean an emp?" Sister interrupted.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, I was just about to say that."

Carolina ground her teeth together in frustration. "Fine. The emp went off and made the ship crash. We turned up on a beach in Hawaii, were Sister helped us. I contacted our ship and they said to talk to future Freelancers, so they transported us to this planet. We made a pit stop to get some supplies, then used those cube things to get to you."

"Oh. Okay, cool. You can follow me and we can find regular-time Carolina." Tucker shrugged and gestured for them to follow him. Sister stuck to his side and the Freelancers trailed behind him.

"So you accept that we're Freelancers from the past, just like that?" Connie asked.

Tucker shrugged and turned a corner. The narrow space they had been in widened out to reveal an open area with a large building. Two guys leaned against a wall, obviously arguing about something. An older guy was sitting on a rock and cleaning a shotgun. Two more guys were in the middle of the clearing doing what looked like patty cake. There was another group of three guys and a girl off to the side who stared at them as they walked in.

"I've learned to not question anything that the scary Freelancers say," Tucker said.

Sister peeled away from Tucker and sprinted toward the overweight guy who was arguing with a scrawny cyborg. "Dexter!"

He looked up sharply and Connie instantly recognized him from the framed pictures on Sister's shelf. She whispered to the others, "That must be her brother."

Niner cocked her head to the side and watched as the two embraced. "Huh. Small galaxy."

The cyborg looked back at Tucker in confusion. He jogged over to ask, "Is that Sister?"

"Yeah, dude! Simmons, you're gonna love this. She brought Freelancers from the past with her." Tucker grinned and gestured back at Carolina, South, Connie, and Niner.

Simmons looked at them curiously. "Wait, really? You would need to have a pretty powerful temporal... Oh, Wyoming."

"Are you going to let us talk to a Freelancer or what?" Carolina snarled at Tucker. She was starting to feel better and was getting ready to kick his ass if he didn't start helping soon.

"Hey Tucker, Epsilon wanted to know if you-" A familiar guy walked into their line of sight, his hands in his pockets. He froze when he saw them standing behind Tucker. Wash's eyes went wide and he took a surprised step back. "What the fuck?" He whispered slowly, his voice suddenly hoarse. His gaze was fixed on South.

Connie straightened up in recognition. "Washington! Hey! Listen, we have to tell you something."

"Holy shit, dude. What the hell happened to your face?" Niner pointed at the faded scar that now ran down most of Wash's left cheek.

Wash brushed his fingertips over the scar, as if reminding himself why it was there. "The Meta." He kept staring at them as he spoke.

"The fuck is 'The Meta'?" South moved toward him and he flinched. She stopped when he stepped back again. "What's the matter with you? You're acting weird."

That seemed to break the spell over Wash. He shrugged. "The Meta is what we called Maine after Sigma drove him crazy and forced him to try and kill other Freelancers for their AI and enhancements." He paused and frowned at them, like he hadn't just told them devastating news about their teammate. "Wyoming's time unit. That's how you're here. Tucker, you can see them too, right?"

Tucker snickered. "Yeah. It's not like that floating head."

Wash opened his mouth to say something to them, but stopped to shoot Tucker a glare. He rolled his eyes, then turned back to the Freelancers. "What do you need?"

"Well, we were coming to your for help to get back into the past, but now I'm a bit more curious about the fact that Maine tries to kill us in the future. Are you saying that some of us are dead?" Connie pulled off her helmet and stared Wash in the eyes, unperturbed.

Wash winced, then looked down at his feet. Even though he didn't say anything, that was enough of an answer for them. Carolina glanced back at them to make sure they were okay. Connie had paled, but she seemed like she was trying to calm herself down. South was curling her fingers into fists and squared her shoulders. Niner shifted uncomfortably where she stood.

Connie somehow kept her composure. "How many?"

Rubbing at the back of his neck, Wash chewed on his bottom lip nervously. "A lot."

"Who?"

"Almost everyone. Jersey, Nebraska, York, Wyoming, Maine, Texas, Florida, North, even the fucking Director." Wash looked back up at them, still seeming nervous.

Niner interrupted before Connie could get in another word. "What about us?"

Wash blinked in shock, then shrugged. "Carolina's alive, she's actually in the other room. You're probably gonna want to talk to-"

"Washington," Niner said, a warning in her voice.

Wash sighed. "Fine. CT is dead, Texas killed her. I killed South and honestly, I have no idea what happened to you, Niner. You became command, but I lost track of you when Project Freelancer was destroyed."

There was a full minute of silence where Wash stared at them and they stared blankly back. Tucker slowly backed away and ran off to somewhere else, probably to get help. None of them really cared about him at that moment.

South was the first to react. "YOU? You fucking kill me? How could you? What the fuck were you even thinking, you sick son of a bitch?"

Wash shrugged, then let his shoulders fall. "I don't know. I was... Irrational. There were reasons I did it, but I still regret it. I'm sorry, South. I really, really am."

South grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You murdered me in cold blood and you think that a fucking 'I'm sorry' is going to help? I don't care if I killed North and shot you, you had no fucking reason to stab me in the back."

From the surprised expression on Wash's face, South knew that he hadn't been expecting that. She scoffed just before he asked, "How did you know that you...?"

With a small gasp, South let go of him. He stumbled backwards. "Wait a minute, do I kill North?"

Connie stepped forward and put a hand on South's shoulder. "We should stop digging. Sometimes you need to figure these things out for yourself."

South brushed her off. "When will I find out? When I actually kill my twin brother? Or when Wash shoots me in the face?"

Wash frowned at South. "You know, the way you keep saying that really bugs me. I was technically insane at the time and you shot me in the back and left me for dead."

"Stop fucking making excuses, asshole. You killed her." Niner angrily jabbed a finger in Wash's chest.

Sister bounced up to them happily. "Hey guys! Sorry I ran off, I needed to talk to my brother! Oh my God, it's you! You're that dickhead!" She frowned at Wash. "You can't bust me, I didn't do anything wrong this time."

"South? Connie? 479er? And... Me? And who the hell are you? Wash, what the fuck."

The new, but familiar, voice interrupted them. They all turned to the girl who stared at them open-mouthed. Her hair was now blonde and was cut short, but they would all recognize those green eyes and scowl anywhere.

"Wow, nice hair." Niner scoffed, still obviously upset.

Future Carolina rolled her eyes. Past Carolina was suddenly washed over with memories of her mother when she was young. She had looked almost exactly the same. "I hate the blonde. Dye your hair red again. It looks awful." It was too painful to see herself look like that. Her father would've thrown a fit if he had seen it.

Her future self raised an eyebrow and glared at her. "I'll wear it how I want to wear it. Don't get caught up on the past, kid."

"Yeah, am I the only one wondering WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" A tiny, blue, holographic soldier appeared on Carolina's shoulder and gestured to the group of Freelancers. "They're fucking dead! And one of them is you! And... Oh. Hey, Sister."

Sister waved happily. "Hey, Church! Wow, you're so small now!"

"Church? Who the hell are you?" Past Carolina stared at the AI that carried her last name.

"I'm an AI, dipshit." He scoffed at her cluelessness.

Sister looked confused. "What's the 'A' stand for?"

Church shook his head. "Ya' know, it's scary how similar to Caboose you are."

"Epsilon, I need you to log off for a minute. You four, come with me. I think I know what the problem is." Future Carolina nodded at the large building.

"Can I come?" Sister asked.

"Yeah, we need you too." Carolina started to lead them to the building entrance. As they passed the group of four, Carolina motioned for the girl to follow as well. "Jensen, I need your help with something."

Jensen was a young girl with frizzy brown braids and a mouthful of braces. She smiled goodbye to her friends and jogged over to Carolina. "What do you need my help with?" She spoke with a slight lisp.

"Some tech stuff, most likely. We need to get them back to the past." Carolina fiddled the the doorknob, then opened the door.

Jensen followed her into the building, glancing back at the Freelancers. "You mean back to the future?"

"Not now, Jensen. I'm not in the greatest of moods. Do you know if Kimball and Grey are still up there?" Carolina walked over to the nearest elevator and jabbed the 'up' button.

"Sorry, ma'am." Jensen blushed and averted her gaze.

Connie glanced around the lobby, taking in the details. Everything was a dull white. Plants and trees grew everywhere, in the walls, floors, ceiling. Dirt caked the floor and chunks were missing from the ceiling. She was a little nervous to be in there.

The elevator dinged and they all piled on. It looked stable enough, but Connie still gripped the handrails as tight as she could. South instantly noticed the way she locked her knees and braced herself against the wall. She shot Connie a small smirk and earned a middle finger in return.

The doors slid open smoothly and Carolina barged into the room. This floor was much more clean and looked safe. Vacuumed, purple carpet covered the floor and the walls were painted a clean, bright, white. Tables had been set up around the room and were covered in medical tools and paper. In one corner there was a sink right next to an exam table that was up against the wall.

A tall, dark-skinned woman leaned up against a wall and was talking to a shorter, Asian girl with purple hair and a lab coat who was flipping through a stack of papers. Carolina walked up to them and told them both something.

As they talked, Jensen turned to the other girls. "Hey! I'm Katie Jensen."

Sister was the only one of them who had the energy to reply. "I'm Kaikaina! Call me Sister. 'Cause I'm Grif's sister."

"Captain Grif has a sister? He never said anything about you!" Jensen looked surprised, but excited at the news.

Sister shrugged. "Yeah, he's like that."

Carolina walked back over to them with the two women. The woman with purple hair gawked while the tall woman kept calm.

"Wow, time travel is still an unperfected art, it's amazing that you came so far forward in time, especially with your technology. Usually, I would guess that you had the help of an AI, but I guess you don't need those anymore, huh?" The woman with purple hair stared at them, looking quizzical, like they were a puzzle that she needed to solve.

"Hey! Thanks for that, Grey." Epsilon popped up above Carolina's shoulder. "I'm definitely needed around here. You wouldn't have been able to work the future cubes without my help, right Lina?"

Carolina rolled her eyes. "Didn't I tell you to _log off_?"

Epsilon grumbled as his light flickered off. The tall woman spoke, her voice steady and calm. "You're probably going to be wanting to get back to your own time soon."

Past Carolina gave her a curt nod. She gave the impression of someone in authority. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, we should get to work then! Jensen, I'm going to need your help building a quick temporal distortion machine. You think that you can handle that?" Grey motioned for Jensen to follow her when the young girl nodded happily. They walked off to one of the tables and started to scribble things down on a piece of paper.

Sister turned to the tall woman. "What about me?"

She looked down at Sister, carefully looking her over. "What about you?"

Sister shrugged. "I'm not from the past. I'm from Hawaii. But, I'd like to stay here, 'cause Grif is here. Can I stay here?"

The woman smiled warmly. "You know Captain Grif? If he says that you're okay, then you can stay if you want to. Right, Carolina?"

When Carolina gave them both a nod, Sister squealed happily. "Oh man, this is great! Grif will be so glad that I'm with him again! It's really cool to be in the army with your brother."

The woman raised a slender eyebrow. "Captain Grif is your brother? That's interesting. What's ypur name?"

"Kaikaina. Call me Sister. What's yours?"

"I'm Vanessa Kimball. It's nice to meet all of you. Although, I'm guessing you're not very excited to be here."

"Okay, we have a rough draft and all the materials we need!" Grey announced loudly. "Now all that we need to do is put it together."

"That was fast," Future Carolina said.

Grey smiled at her sheepishly. "I may have been working on a prototype for awhile now."

Carolina snorted. "Alright. Need any help from us?"

Jensen glanced at the plans, then shook her head. "We should be okay."

Before anyone could say anything else, the elevator dinged again and Wash rushed into the room. There was blood on his face. "You guys better hurry up. Felix and Locus are sending more troops after us, they'll be up here in about five seconds. 'Bout fifteen of them."

"Shit! Epsilon, need your help." Future Carolina swore and reached for her gun.

Epsilon showed up instantly. "Oh, so _now_ you need me."

"Not the time. Track their motion for me." She pointed at Sister. "You, go to the back with Grey and Jensen. Try to help them hurry this along." Surprisingly, Sister obeyed and rushed to go help. Carolina turned to Kimball. "Can you protect them with Niner?"

Niner and Kimball both moved towards the back. Wash grabbed a rifle from one of the tables and checked it. Past Carolina and South pulled out their brand new guns while Connie selected a couple of knives.

"They're coming up the stairs," Epsilon said.

Future Carolina moved over to the entrance of the staircase. She aimed her gun and paused. "Tell me when, Epsilon."

South, Connie, and Past Carolina inched forward along the wall. Wash hung back, he didn't have armor on like the rest of the Freelancers. Epsilon hovered above Carolina's shoulder, carefully keep an eye on the door.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Carolina fired, shooting a soldier in the foot. He tumbled back into his friend and knocked the two of them down the stairs. She dodged out of the way of the shower of bullets, nearly running into her past self.

"Fourteen left, the one guy is coming back up the stairs. Keep an eye on Grey and Jensen." Future Carolina nodded them forward, almost like she was giving them permission to attack.

Connie hurled a knife at the next soldier that dared to come out of the stairwell. It stuck in his shoulder and he cried out as he was slammed against the wall. After that, they came surging out. Bullets and knives flew through the air.

Past Carolina instantly noticed that Future Carolina was trying not to go for the kill. She and Wash were mostly aiming at their legs. She motioned for South and Connie to only injure. They nodded in understanding, although South didn't seem too happy about it.

"We're ready!" Grey called out above the noise of gunshots. She dove under a desk as a soldier aimed her gun at her. Niner shot him in the face. Apparently she missed the memo about no kills.

Wash pulled South away from a soldier and pushed Connie toward the back, where Jensen was making last minute adjustments on a small, glowing cube. It looked similar to the on that Sister had messed with.

"Stand close to each other, it's on a timer for thirty seconds," Grey nudged them closer. "You won't be able to remember anything that has happened here, unfortunately. Good luck."

"Wait!" Wash rushed to a desk and grabbed a marker off of it. He grabbed Carolina's arm and quickly scribbled something on her armor. He finished just before there was a flash of light.

The four of them ended up in a pile on the floor of the Mother of Invention. The Director was looking down at them with a puzzled expression. Texas stood next to him, her short, blonde hair looked suddenly hauntingly familiar.

"What the fuck happened?" Tex exclaimed, helping Connie up.

Niner shook her head slowly and struggled to her feet. "I have no idea."

"Hey, Lina? What's that on your armor?" Tex pointed to Carolina's arm.

Carolina sluggishly looked down. Something had been messily scrawled on her armor. She squinted at it, barely able to read the handwriting. "It says... 'Memory is the key.'"


End file.
